Chapter One – People & Government
Section
1 – The Principles of Government
1. Government is necessary but . . .
A. What is the proper
function of government?
B. What form of
government serves best?
C. Where or why did
government originate?
2. The State
A. Aristotle
1) Scholar
in ancient Greece.
2) One of
the first students of government.
3) “Polis” – The ancient Greek city-state.
4) Terms such as politics,
democracy, and republic originated
in ancient Greece or Rome.
B. State
1) Country
and state have basically the same meaning.
2) “A political
community that occupies a definite territory and has an organized government
with the power to make and enforce laws without approval form any higher
authority.”
C. Nation
1) Often
used to describe an independent state or country.
2) “ Any sizable group
of people who are united by common bonds of race, language, custom, tradition,
and sometimes, religion.”
3) Usually the territorial boundaries of modern nation
states and those of nations are the same.
4) Example – France.
A) Although not all citizen of France are of French descent,
the territories of both the nation of France and the state of France coincide.
B) Nation-state
is a term used to describe a country/nation such as France.
5) Not all groups that consider themselves to be nations
have their own states.
A) Quebec
in Canada.
B) In Africa, the populations of some national groups are
divided among several African states due to the artificial boundaries
established during the colonial era.
3. Essential Features of a State
A. Four essential features:
Population, Territory, Sovereignty, and Government.
B. Population
1) Most
obvious essential for a state.
2) The
nature of a state’s population affects its stability.
3) States where the population shares a general political
and social consensus, or
agreement about basic beliefs, have the most stable governments.
4) Mobility – affects the political organization of a state.
a) In the United States, millions of Americans change
residences each year.
b) As a result, political power is slowly changing and being
modified.
C. Territory
1) A state
has established boundaries.
2) The exact location or shape of political boundaries is
often a source of conflict among states.
3) Territorial boundaries may change as a result of war,
negotiations, or purchase.
D. Sovereignty
1) Key
characteristic of a state.
2) Political
Sovereignty – The state has the supreme and absolute authority within
its territorial boundaries.
3) It has complete independence, and complete power to make
laws, shape foreign policy, and determine its own course of action.
4) In theory, no state has the right to interfere with the
internal affairs of another state.
E. Government
1) Every
state has some form of government.
2) Government –
The institution through which the state maintains social order, provides public
services, and enforces decisions that are binding on all people living within
the state.
4. Theories on the Origin of the State
A. Evolutionary Theory
1) Belief that the state evolved from the basic family
unit.
2) The head of the primitive family was the authority that
served as the government.
3) As large, extended families grew, there was a greater
need for more organization which caused the birth of government.
B. Force Theory
1) The belief that government emerged when all the people of
an area were brought under the authority of one person or a group.
C. Divine Right Theory
1) The notion that a god or gods have chosen certain people
to rule.
2) People believed that the state was created by God, and
those who were born to royalty were hosen by God to govern.
3) To oppose the monarch was to oppose God and was
considered both treason and sin.
D. Social Contract Theory
1) Beginning in the 1600s, Europeans challenged the rule of
sovereigns who ruled by divine right.
2) The birth of the Social Contract Theory.
A) Thomas Hobbes (English
philosopher)
1)
In a state of nature, no government existed.
2) Without an authority to protect people from one another,
life was nasty, brutish, and short.
3) By contract, people surrendered to the state the power
needed to maintain order.
4)
The state, in turn, agreed to protect its citizens.
5) Hobbes believed that people did not have the right to
break this agreement.
B)
John Locke (English
philosopher)
1)
Took the social contract a step further.
2) Believed that the people were naturally endowed with the
right of life, liberty, and property.
3) To preserve their rights, the people had the right to
break the contract (Right of Revolution).
5. The Purposes of Government
A. Today governments
serve several major purposes for the state:
1) To maintain social order.
2) To provide public services.
3) To provide for national security and a
common defense.
4) To provide for and control the economic
system.
B. In carrying out these tasks, governments must make
decisions that are binding on all citizens of the state.
C. Government has the authority to require all individuals
to obey these decisions and the power to punish those who do not obey them.
D. Governments derive their authority from two sources –
their legitimacy and their ability to use coercive force.
1) Legitimacy – the willingness of
citizens to obey the government.
A) In democratic countries legitimacy is based on the
consent of the people.
B) If elected officials fail to respond to the interest of
the people they can be voted out of office.
C)
People entrust their government with power.
2) Coercive Force
A)
The second source of government authority.
B) Derives from the police, judicial, and military
institutions of government.
C) Government can force people to pay taxes and can punish
offenders by fines or imprisonment.
E. Maintaining Social Order
1) According to the social contract theory, people need
government to maintain social order because they have not yet discovered a way
to live in groups without conflict.
2) Governments provide ways of resolving conflicts among
group members, helping to maintain social order.
3) Governments have the power to make and enforce laws and
can require people to do things they might do voluntarily.
4) Governments provide structures such as courts to help
people resolve disagreements in an orderly manner.
5) Government controls and contains conflict between people
by placing limits on what individuals are permitted to do.
6) Governments provide a group with law and order.
F. Providing Public Services
1) One of the important purposes of government is to provide
essential services that make community life possible and promote the general
welfare.
2) Government undertakes projects that individuals would or
could not do on their own.
3) Provides essential serve by making and enforcing laws
that promote public health and safety.
G. Providing National Security
1)
Protecting citizens from attacks and threats.
2) Protecting its national security is a major concern of
each sovereign state.
3) In additional to providing national defense, governments
also handle normal relations with other nations.
4) Provides economic security by enacting trade agreements
with other countries.
H. Making Economic Decisions
1) No country provides its citizens with everything they
need or desire.
2) Government often intervene to help deal with the problems
of material scarcity to prevent conflicts.
3) Pass laws
that shape the economic environment of the nation.
4) Make choices that distribute benefits and public services
among citizens.
5) Governments usually try to stimulate economic growth and
stability through controlling inflation, encouraging trade, and regulating the
development of natural resources.
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